The Glenlivet

After the 1823 Excise Act, George Smith became the first distiller in the Highlands to obtain a license for distillation and, in 1824, he established The Glenlivet on what was once a farm distillery called Upper Drummin. Many of the neighbouring distilleries were illegally run and involved in smuggling. They became indignant, for George Smith was running Glenlivet by legal means. Such was the tempest of their fury, George had to carry a pair of pistols for protection.

Originally 'Gow', the family name became the more Anglo-sounding 'Smith' following Bonnie Prince Charlie’s 1746 defeat at the battle of Culloden. The Gows changed their name to escape the resultant subjugation which ensued. The Glenlivet has always been a name associated with quality, to such a degree that other distilleries would use the name, no matter how distant they were from the Livet glen.

To help preserve his brand, George Smith’s son, John Gordon Smith, applied for sole rights to the name, which were granted in 1884. The name still crops up elsewhere. However, by law, other brands must hyphenate it with their own names and cannot use it solely. The large distillery, with a capacity of 5.8 million litres per annum, is owned by Chivas Brothers, themselves a subsidiary of Pernod Ricard. Today, The Glenlivet is the world’s second best-selling single malt and is the top seller in the US.

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About The Glenlivet Whisky Distillery

1859 – Upper Drummin and Cairngorm close and all equipment is brought to Minmore which is renamed The Glenlivet Distillery.

Distillery Capacity

5 800 000 litres

Distillery Status

Active

Distillery Address

Ballindalloch, Banffshire AB37 9DB

Distillery Owner

Chivas Brothers

Distillery Address

Minmore, Ballindalloch, Banffshire

Distillery Website

www.theglenlivet.com

1817

George Smith inherits the farm distillery Upper Drummin from his father Andrew Smith who has been distilling on the site since 1774.

1840

George Smith buys Delnabo farm near Tomintoul and leases Cairngorm Distillery. His son William takes over operations at Upper Drummin.

1845

George Smith leases three other farms, one of which is situated on the river Livet and is called Minmore.

1846

William Smith develops tuberculosis and his brother John Gordon moves back home to assist his father. Sales of Smith’s Glenlivet increases steadily and neither Upper Drummin nor Cairngorm Distillery can meet demand.

1864

George Smith cooperates with the whisky agent Andrew P. Usher and exports the whisky with great success.

1871

George Smith dies and his son John Gordon takes over.

1880

John Gordon Smith applies for and is granted sole rights to the name The Glenlivet. Only Glenlivet Distillery may thus use the name. All distilleries wishing to use Glenlivet in their names must from now hyphenate it with their brand names.

Two new duty-free versions are introduced – The Glenlivet 12 year old First Fill and Nadurra, a 16 year old non chill-filtered matured in first-fill bourbon casks. The 1972 Cellar Collection (2,015 bottles) is launched.

2006

Nadurra 16 year old cask strength and 1969 Cellar Collection are released. Glenlivet sells more than 500,000 cases for the first time in one year.

2007

Glenlivet XXV is released.

Reproduced from the Malt Whisky Yearbook 2009 with the kind permission of Mr Ingvar Ronde

Glenlivet is one of the best selling single malt whiskies in the world so it's great to have the opportunity to try a cask bottled at cask strength that hasn't been used as a part of their range... More info

Produced at the award-winning Glenlivet distillery, Nadurra is a delicious range of cask-strength, bourbon-matured single malt, aged for 16 years. Each is bottled in small batches, and Batch 0712U is... More info

Fancy some 32 year old Glenlivet? Well then, here's your chance, courtesy of Signatory! It was distilled by the Speyside legends in December 1981 and matured until February 2014, when it was bottled... More info

A big ol' bottle of The Glenlivet 12 Year Old Unblended All Malt Scotch Whisky. You see, it is technically "big" as it's a 1 litre bottle, and "ol'" because it was produced in the 1970s. Hence, "big... More info

A Signatory bottling of Glenlivet single malt Scotch whisky, which has spent 16 years maturing in a first fill Sherry butt. To make sure none of those sweet, spicy flavours escaped, it was bottled... More info

The sherry butt which matured this Glenlivet for 11 years certainly gave the whisky a fine hue. 382 bottles came out of cask 9637, all with rosy cheeks and big flavours. Bottled by Douglas Laing... More info

Part of a collection of 12 year old single malt Glenlivet whiskies, all with an accompanying presentation tin featuring a different golf course in Scotland. This one features the Royal Dornoch golf... More info

A glorious single cask Glenlivet, distilled in April 1992 and aged for 19 years in a refill hogshead before bottling for Douglas Laing's Old Malt Cask range in August of 2011. A release of 283... More info

This was distilled at the Glenlivet distillery on the 25th June 1996 before a 14 year maturation in sherry butt number 105515 before bottling on the 17th August 2010. A release of 615 numbered... More info

A beautiful single cask Glenlivet, which was distilled on the 6th July 1994 before it was aged in cask number 4014 (a first fill butt) for 17 years before bottling at natural cask strength on the 14th... More info

A stunning old Glenlivet distilled on the 26th November 1954 and aged for 56 years in first sherry hogshead #2736. This comes from the private collection of Michael GC Urquhart (the Director at Gordon... More info

Based on three hand selected first fill American oak barrels of Glenlivet single malt, distilled in 1980 and bottled in 2011 after 31 years of ageing. A release of around 500 bottles. This is rare... More info

This was distilled at Glenlivet on the 4th October 1990 and it was aged in cask 22393 for 20 years before bottling in April of 2011 for the Mackillop's Choice range. Each bottle is individually... More info

A wonderful Glenlivet, launched for Travel Retail. This was launched in honor of Alan Winchester, who has been master distiller at the distillery since 2009. He created this whisky with European oak... More info

A wonderful 30 year old single cask Glenlivet. This was distilled on the 5th November 1981 before a maturation in hogshead 9458. It was eventually bottled on the 28th February 2012. A release of 194... More info

A gorgeously dark, sherry-butt-matured Glenlivet, distilled in September 2001 and aged for 10 years before bottling in February 2012. A single cask release of just 387 bottles from the Douglas Laing... More info

This is a rare Glenlivet bottled at cask-strength without chill-filtration. This whisky was matured in a second fill hogshead cask which only yielded 307 bottles of this excellent Speyside whisky. More info

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